Is Psalm 45 Messianic?

Open Line on January 21, 2023 hour 2.

Listener:

My question is kind of about Psalm 45 in general, I am reading out of the New King James and then this bible, it puts a little star when it is referring to Messianic verse or passage, so I want to know, it seems like it is talking about Christ as being the king, from verses 1 to , well the whole thing but at the end, like verse 9, the king's daughter are among your honorable women, at right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir, then verse 10 switches to Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear, forget your people, then it sounds like it is an earthly wedding, I want to know how to read it, am I reading it prophetically as Christ, is there real wedding, then it sounds like it's a queen that's there and then another one that's coming being brought to Him, to be married, as multiple wives, or is it going back and forth between prophetic and real?

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

You've got a great question here. Now, first of all, let me say, I believe, the whole book of Psalm is Messianic, not just isolated verses here or there. That the overall theme of the Psalms is Messianic. There are many many scholars who hold this view is sort of becoming fashionable again, to see the Psalms holistically as a book of Messiah. David C Mitchell, who wrote a book 20 years ago, called the "Message of the Psalter" and he came back to an older view which sees the book of Psalm as a holistic unified book with this key message being the coming of the Messiah. I agree with you too that Psalm 45 seems Messianic, the reason is because it is. Particularly, it seems to me, there may have been an allusion to historical event, I think it was intentionally, like some people say, it was Solomon that was getting married. This was referring to him but I don't think it is. I think the groom is intended to be symbolic for the Messiah. The reason I say that is if you look at verse 6, "Your throne, O God is forever ..., He's calling whoever this is, this is God, boy, I am feeling giving a lot of books away. There's a wonderful exposition by a man by a man named Seph Postell, who is a Moody grad, Jewish believer, who is the academic dean of Israel College of the Bible. He wrote on Psalm 45, Messiah as bridegroom, in the Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy and I think you would really be blessed by reading it. What I am going to do is since we are running out of time, we are going to send you a copy of the Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy.

What is the narrow gate?

Open Line, moody radio, hour 2 on December 10, 2022

Listener:

If possible, can you explain Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14, please? Thank you so much!

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

7, 13 and 14 says enter through the narrow gate for that gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who go through it, how narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life and few find it. I believe what the Lord Jesus had done in the sermon of the mount is he has compared what true faith in the Messianic king is versus the faith as being taught by the Jewish leaders of that time. And that's why in Matthew 5 he keeps, I think a lot of English version don't get this but he is actually saying you have heard it said to the ancients, to the old ones, the elders, really, to the Jewish leaders, you have heard said , not to them but by the elders, we don't usually get that, this is their interpretation but now I say to you, and he gives his interpretation and he is basically saying to Jewish people, you can choose to follow the crowd or you can choose to follow the king but it is only through the king that we can find life. That's what he is saying ... Today, what a great choice we have to offer people today, the crowd is saying go all this different directions but we need to follow the king, the way that leads to life ...

Matthew 7

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. -nkjv

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. -kjv

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. -nasb

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. -niv

Is Hell eternal?

Openline radio program on December 3, 2022, hour 1.

Listener:

Hey Dr Rydelnik, my question today is, is Hell eternal? I was always taught that it was, but my nephew he was in theology college, he said it isn't, he says every thing is going to pass away, hell is going to pass away too.

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

Where did he learn that?

Listener:

I guess in college. I don't know which school he went to.

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

In theology college. I guess there are people who say that. Theological schools. There are a lot of verses about hell in the bible that we can read. Let me just say this, that there are a lot more, people will find this interesting, the Lord Jesus says about 3 or 4 times more about how we use our money than he talked about hell. A lot of people think the bible is filled with fire and brimstone than hell, it's there, I wouldn't deny it. But, I think it's not as prevalent as many people think. It is there, it's very clear teaching and I am going to show you one verse that I think helps with your question. But, there are many things we need to read about the bible. Secondly, the reality of hell is something that really we ought to be motivated by, because God loves people, He never intended them to be separated from him forever, and so we ought to be really motivated by the reality of hell, to let people know that God has a better future for them and they will trust that Jesus died for them and rose again and took the punishment for their sins and provide new life through his resurrection. So, that's what we want to really communicate, it should drive us, it should motivate us to know that people can have eternal life and we need to be the ones to tell people about that. The verse that I want to focus on with you is Revelation 14, verses 10 to 11. In the middle of verse 10, he says, of the beast, that he will drink of the wine of God's wrath which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger, now the beast, according to Revelation, ends up eternally in the lake of fire, which is really what Hell is, eternally separated from God and also everyone that refuses to trust in Jesus, also ends up there, but it says of this beast, he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever, there is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image. Those are the people who worship the beast, there we go, those are other people. Any one who receives the mark of his name. So, right there, I think it is as clear as it can be, in this description of the lake of fire that you read about later in Revelation. It is very clear, this is not a temporary situation. It doesn't get destroyed. There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth, that's a new creation where all the people who know the Lord will live forever but there's going to be a lake of fire as well. Man, that should drive us, motivate us, get us out there talking about the love of God, what He has provided for us.

Revelation 14

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. -kjv

9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” -nkjv

9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” 12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. -nasb

9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” -niv